Arappor Iyakkam levels ₹400 cr tender corruption against Balaji & Tangedco

 CHENNAI: In a shocker to the government and State Minister Senthilbalaji, who is currently facing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation, Arappor Iyakkam, an anti-graft organisation, has leveled allegations of corruption on floating tenders to buy transformers.

In a complaint to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC), Arappor Iyakkam sought criminal action against the minister and officials.

"The complaint is about the criminality of corruption, collusion, conspiracy, and fraud in the award of tenders for the supply of distribution transformers of a range of specifications starting from 25 KVA up to 500 KVA during the years of 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Tangedco leading to unjust enrichment and loss to the exchequer of Rs. 397 crore," Jayaram Venkatesan, Convenor of the organisation said.

The corruption allegation has been raised in the tenders worth Rs. 1,182 Crore floated in the years 2021 to 2023.

"The modus operandi is unique. In all tenders, more than 20 bidders participated in each of them. While this could on the face of it appear as healthy competition, all / most of the bidders have conspired into quoting pre-decided quotes for the tender. The fundamental condition as per TN Transparency in Tenders Act is to maintain the confidentiality of the tender process until its completion by the tender inviting authority The bidders and the public servants appear to have conspired together to prefix the rate and the same rate is quoted by all the bidders participating It is mathematically near to a zero probability for more than 20 bidders to quote exactly the same rate and therefore, unless it is prefixed it is impossible for more than 20 bidders to quote exactly the same rate. Thus, the total quantity could be split amongst them and unjustly enrich all the bidders," the complaint added.